As expected my PCs decided to take Rowyn up and join the Lotus Dragons. They figure they can do that and still work for Lavinia as both are currently connections to Vanthus. The sidebar says Rowyn will ask for 'increasingly dangerous and sinister tasks' in the LD's effort to take control of the harbor. Growing up in the desert however I do not have many ideas on this matter. I want to play up the harbor control bit so I beseech you for a few suggestions. I do not even know the tasks of a harbor master (beyond the general mastering of the harbor). The couple ideas I do have are: strong-arming some captain who skipped out on an LD payment, robbing a ships hold, framing a non-cooperative merchant with stolen/smuggling goods, taking payment to/from the watch, destroying a pier, assign three ships too many to the same dock, attach friggin lasers to all the ixixitls heads.
Rowyn has already suggested they will have to be able to replace Vanthus in the org, before she even introduces them to him (but is willing since he was obviously unable to take care of Lavinia's flunkies :)
The best plan is to start off simple. "Take this package to 'It Still Floats' and tell Panchi to see that it gets delivered." Afterwards, make it more serious. The players need to rough up some merchants who aren't paying protection money. There's a snoopy member of the watch - kill someone and plant evidence to make it seem like he did it. In the end, if you want the players to be really uncomfortable with their choice have Rowyn tell them to bring some "dangerous cargo" from her personal barge into a warehouse in Shadowshore only to discover a large amount of Olman slaves in the hold.
Of course, if you want them to be a bit more comfortable with the choice, you can make Rowyn seem like an angel in disguise. She can clean up the harbor district and while she'll rule it with a firm hand she'll throw out corrupt men like Soller Vark and actually make the azure district run smoothly again. It really depends on how evil you want Rowyn to be and how uncomfortable you want the players to feel with this decision. Just remember Rowyn is Neutral Evil, so she isn't exactly going to play "nice" with anybody but she can rule fairly and well.
~ Bryon ~
My party joined Rowyn and are now completely evil whacky. As long as they get paid, they rough up or kill whomever Rowyn asks them to. It is actually pretty fun and makes the stories a bit more entertaining, if a bit twisted.
But otherwise, I have the same advice. Give them increasingly more horrid tasks and see if they break. If they do, don't forget to look at alignments. The thief in may game has moved to CE from CN because she just started wantonly killing people (she wanted to be an assassin). The other two characters are still CN...for now.
The important thing is to have someone in the wings, whether it is Lavinnia, Rowyn, or someone else that can fill the "Lavinnia--DAMSEL IN DISTRESS" (said in all caps and with a meek "save me" at the end) role for the STAP. A lot of the story hinges on the party actually caring about her or at least having the idea that helping her will be good for their own personal gain (for those evil type people).
Hope that helps.
...A lot of the story hinges on the party actually caring about her or at least having the idea that helping her will be good for their own personal gain (for those evil type people)...
Aye and Vanthus as a lover scorned is more plausible than Vanthus as a brother scorned (though other threads have argued it is Vanthus as lover and brother *shudder*). So Rowyn as the person in question makes sense.
My question is what does it mean to 'control the harbor.' Collecting taxes and directing traffic is what it means to me, but how does that become increasingly 'horrid'? What does a harbor master do to enforce these things? Why is the Dawn council so happy to be rid of the LDs (per concluding the adventure)? What kind of a threat is it for LD to control the harbor?
Unfortunately one of my PCs wants the details as controlling the harbor sounds like a perfect job to him. and the PCs were worried about conflict with their affiliations. At some point R will ask them to go too far and they will likely turn on her (they expect to use her to get to Vanthus and are still working for Lavinia). But this group has certainly played the whacky evil role you mentioned above so no promises.
Thanks for the info so far. Any help would be appreciated.
My question is what does it mean to 'control the harbor.' Collecting taxes and directing traffic is what it means to me, but how does that become increasingly 'horrid'? What does a harbor master do to enforce these things? Why is the Dawn council so happy to be rid of the LDs (per concluding the adventure)? What kind of a threat is it for LD to control the harbor?
Think of it more in the mafia sense: no one moves cargo without our say-so. At first, it'll be simple, low-crime stuff: roughing up bad people late in paying their cut, delivering small and mysterious packages (possibly containing severed body parts) to warn off potential competition, protecting the transfer or appropriation of certain cargo, etc.
Eventually, once she decides she can trust them with more important/dangerous things, it moves up to covert destruction of property or cargo, delivering overt threats, kidnapping, and other nefarious acts. Once they're in up to their necks, it escalated to the final consolidation of power: mudering rivals, sinking of ships (with the crew on board), torture of the family of uncooperative officials or business parters, and other really horrible acts.
It should never get to that point, but the PCs should get a clear message about what kind of person they're working for. If they want to, they can definitely work their way up the organization to positions of power and trust. That would certainly get them the resources they'll need later, though the motivation for the rest of the AP would have to be changed rather radically.
Think of it more in the mafia sense
This is exactly how I played it with my party. By the time the harbor was back under control, they had threatened innocent people to apply pressure on officials and engaged in some murder of "reluctant" followers. To cap it off, they killed Lavinnia during the Bullywug Gambit, planted evidence that she was behind the Lotus Dragons and they spread the rumor that the Bullywugs were an army of thugs she had recruited in to further her ends.
All that being said, you have to be very careful as a DM with a party of...questionably moral individuals. I am on the look out for the party to betray anyone. The only things they care about are each other and money (in that order). As long as I can find a financial or personal reason for them to move through the adventure, everything should work out fine.